Wurst days ahead: Famous US sausage maker teams up with PH firm

One of America’s fave sausages might soon be made in the Philippines.

Johnsonville, LLC, one of the top sausage producers in the United States, has formed a joint venture with local firm Frabelle Foods.

The joint venture, named Frabelle Corp., would mean the American sausages would eventually be manufactured here. The two firms decided to keep “Frabelle,” saying the name was already “well entrenched” in the Philippines, a top official from the local company said.

Johnsonville has a 51-percent stake in the team-up, while Frabelle owns the rest.

Frabelle Foods is the company behind local hotdog brands Bossing, Pinoy and Cheezydog, among others. Currently selling only to the Philippine market, this also gives the local company the chance to export.

On the sidelines of a press briefing Monday, company officials from both local and foreign firms point to how much Filipinos love their hotdogs and sausages—an opportunity that the joint venture wants to take advantage of.

“We would like to eventually make our products in the facility here in the [country]. So instead of importing, we could actually make Johnsonville sausages in the Philippines,” said Nick Meriggioli, CEO of Johnsonville.

The American firm’s “super premium” sausages are currently sold in local stores here.

Johnsonville president and joint venture chair Michael Stayer-Suprick said the partnership would help bring down costs.

He said bringing in the sausages meant having to pay a huge 40-percent tariff. “So if we can produce here, we can offer a much more economic solution to the sausage category on the high end,” Stayer-Suprick said.